About this print

Blue Baby and Lamb, 1 Samuel 1:27

A newborn asleep in a woven basket, a lamb dozing beside it, and the words of a mother who had waited years for this moment.

What is painted

The baby sleeps in a round wicker basket, swaddled up to the chin in a powder blue blanket, a small cream pillow under its head and a tuft of reddish-brown hair on top. The basket rests on a second blue blanket with a fringed edge, and on that same blanket, just outside the basket, a white lamb has curled up with its eyes closed and its legs tucked in. Both are asleep, and nothing else competes with them.

The verse sits above in a soft, rounded print in warm brown, “For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him”, with the reference 1 Samuel 1:27 set smaller beneath. The palette stays cool and quiet: sky blue, cream, and the honey tone of the woven basket. Wide margins of white paper let the whole scene breathe, which suits a room meant for sleep.

Hannah's prayer at Shiloh

The words belong to Hannah, one of the most moving mothers in the Old Testament. The first chapter of 1 Samuel tells how she had no children and went up year after year with her husband Elkanah to worship at Shiloh. There she prayed in such distress that her lips moved without sound, and Eli the priest thought she had been drinking. When she explained, he sent her away in peace.

She named her son Samuel, and the text gives the reason: “Because I have asked him of the LORD.” When the boy was weaned, Hannah brought him back to Eli at Shiloh and spoke the line on this print. The next verse tells that she lent him to the LORD for as long as he lived. The child in her arms became Samuel the prophet, who would one day anoint both Saul and David.

That is why the verse means so much to parents after a long wait, after loss, or after years of hoping. It is gratitude spoken out loud, and it is also a gift given back.

A blue nursery and a baby shower

The soft blue palette was made with a boy's nursery in mind, though it sits just as well in any calm, neutral room. Hang it above the crib, over a changing table or beside the rocking chair where the late-night feeds happen. As a baby shower present or a baptism gift, it tells new parents that this child was prayed for, often by more people than they know.

Each copy of this Christian poster, like all the Christian wall art in the shop, is a fine art print on thick archival matte paper, printed to order in the United States with free shipping inside the US. Sizes run from 5x7 to 24x36, with metric and A sizes too. It arrives unframed, with a margin of paper around the image, and a digital file is also available.

Other nursery prints in the collection pair a baby with gentle animals, or show Jesus welcoming the little children. Read 1 Samuel 1 and what it means